Fredo Corleone
Fredo Corleone is the middle Corleone brother, portrayed by John Cazale. Biography Fredo was the born to Vito and Carmella Corleone. He was seen as the weakest of the three brothers and was given relatively unimportant business to run. When Virgil Sollozzo's men attempted to kill his father, Fredo fumbled with his gun and was unable to retaliate. He did, however, manage to assist Aldo Trapani in driving to the hospital and fending off the Tattaglia goons who attempted to finish the job. However, he went into shock and remained inactive for several weeks. Fredo later moved to Las Vegas and was taken by Moe Greene as a favour to the family. When Moe refused to sell out to Michael, Fredo attempted to defend him and was told never to side against the family again. Green was later killed. At the Lake Tahoe party at the beginning of The Godfather: Part II, Fredo is unable to control his intoxicated wife, Deanna. After she danced with another man, he furiously dragged her off the dance floor and threatened to hit her. Deanna mocked him by saying that he "couldn't belt his momma," and that he's jealous because he's not "a real man." Fredo's Betrayal Fredo betrayed Michael when approached by Johnny Ola, an agent of rival gangster Hyman Roth. This betrayal ultimately resulted in an assassination attempt on Michael at his Lake Tahoe home. The film left unclear the details of Fredo's deal with Ola and Roth. Fredo ambiguously claimed that his goal in that deal was simply to get something for himself, on his own, and swore that he did not realize he was being used as part of a larger plot to kill his brother. However, in the event of Michael's assassination, Fredo would likely have led the Corleone Family, at least as a figurehead. Michael discovered Fredo's role in the plot during his trip to Havana when Fredo let it slip out that he and Johnny Ola had been in Havana together. Michael confronted Fredo later and tells his older brother, "You broke my heart." Fredo flees in fear of his life but he is actually in no danger because Michael believes that Johnny Ola and Hyman Roth had lied to Fredo and manipulated him. Later, when Michael is being pursued by a Congressional Committee investigating organized crime he has a talk with Fredo and realizes that Fredo had both withheld important information from him about Hyman Roth's connection with the Committee's lawyer and was deeply resentful and jealous of Michael's role in the family business. Michael recognizes that Fredo is a traitor and disowns and banishes him from the family. Upon their mother's death, and at the urging of their sister Connie, Michael relented toward Fredo and seemingly offered reconciliation. However, it was only to draw Fredo in so as to have him murdered, something Michael did not permit to do while their mother was alive. Fredo and his nephew, Michael's son Anthony, developed a relationship and were to go fishing on Lake Tahoe. However, Anthony is called away by Connie, who tells him that his father wants to take him to Reno. Fredo is left alone in the fishing boat with Al Neri and he takes the boat far out onto the lake. His suspicions prior to his death are left up to interpretation. As Fredo prays the Hail Mary, Neri shoots him in the back of the head. Shortly afterwards, Fredo plagued Michael's dreams with warnings that he never got to issue. The murder of his brother was the one crime that Michael felt guilty about. Category: Corleones